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Daily Archives: 06/24/2016

Twin brothers die after being found in pool

By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter

jevans@thepccourier.com

EASLEY — Twin 3-year-old boys died over the weekend after being found at the bottom of a pool near Easley.

Anderson County deputy coroner Don McCown said the 911 call about a possible drowning came in around 2:20 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

Pelzer EMS, Piedmont EMS and the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office responded to the home on Pisgah Road near Easley.

McCown said Caleb and Ezekiel Marcengill were found in the pool by their 8-year-old sister.

“She had gone to get into the pool,” McCown said. “She had actually gotten the keys to the pool and was going to get in. She unlocked the gate and was standing on the deck when she spotted her brothers at the bottom of the pool.”

McCown said the investigation found that the boys had either climbed over the fence or went under the fence around the pool. He said he believed they went under the fence through a gap in the fencing.

The boys’ father and a friend removed them and began CPR until responders could arrive on the scene.

The twins were transported to Greenville Memorial Hospital.

Caleb Marcengill was pronounced dead at 3:21 p.m. Saturday, McCown said. Ezekiel Marcengill was subsequently admitted to pediatric ICU in critical condition.

On Sunday, life support was withdrawn and Ezekiel was pronounced dead at 2:30 p.m., McCown said.

McCown ruled the deaths accidental due to drowning, saying there was no indication that the family had done anything wrong. The family is from Westminster and had gone over to a friend’s home for a get-together.

“It’s so sad,” McCown said.

 

County council sets aside $23M for future jail

By: Jason Evans

Staff Reporter

jevans@thepccourier.com

Earmark means money will be available when needed

PICKENS COUNTY — County officials agree that a solution is needed for a jail that is bursting at the seams.

And while what that solution will entail is still taking shape, Pickens County Council members want to make sure that funding is there.

Council members voted unanimously to amend the fiscal year 2016-2017 budget to earmark $23 million for a new jail.

They were quick to assert, however, that they had not approved building a new jail with the vote.

The discussion came before council voted on third reading to approve the budget.

Council members had recently received an assessment regarding a possible new jail, councilman Neil Smith said.

“It’s a $23 million project,” Smith said.

Interim county administrator Tom Hendricks said the 322-bed facility described in the assessment would more than triple the current capacity for inmates.

Smith moved to amend the budget to designate $23 million from reserves for jail construction.

Councilman Trey Whitehurst spoke up to clear up any confusion.

“We’re basically earmarking it,” Whitehurst said. “We are earmarking the money. We are not spending the money. We are basically saying this money cannot be spent on something else until we address the jail. If it’s going to be spent, it’s going to be spent on the jail. I’m reading the headlines tomorrow that county council approved a jail.”

Smith agreed.

“We’ve got several major things,” he said. “We’ve got coal ash issues, we’ve got jail, we’ve got land acquisitions for our expansions of these companies. Then we’ve got Tri-County Tech. What we’ve been discussing is where we have our top priorities.

The jail is our responsibility,” Smith continued. “There’s nothing we can do about it. That’s just the way it is.”

He said $23 million “is a pretty hefty hit.”

“I’m just saying, making sure we hold that money for the jail,” Smith said. “It’s coming. It’s just a matter of time.”

Council chair Jennifer Willis clarified, saying that council will be able to determine the best way to fund a new jail when that time comes.

“Whether we actually use the reserves, whether we bond part of it,” she said. “That can all be finalized. The main thing is that we’re setting aside this money. We will have the ability to dial that in as we go forward on that project.”

Councilman Tom Ponder said while Pickens County does have a role to play, other agencies will be key players in the creation of a new jail facility — whenever that happens.

“Our responsibility would be the financial responsibility,” he said. “But agencies like our solicitor’s office, probation and parole, different organizations, they’ve got a role to play in how this facility will be run. As we go through the process of deciding what type of facility it will be, they can clean some things up that will cut down on some of the days that some of these people stay there.”

Ponder said a lot of people don’t enter pleas after they’re arrested, clogging the system.

“A lot of people make deals with the solicitor’s office, plead guilty to lesser charges and get time served,” he said. ‘We’ve got some people down there today who are there because they choose to be.”

The budget passed unanimously on third reading.

 

Primary runoffs set for Tuesday

COUNTY — Pickens County voters will head to the polls one more time next Tuesday, June 28, for the 2016 Republican primary runoffs.

For eight candidates, Tuesday will be the day of reckoning. Three Pickens County Council races and a S.C. Senate seat will be up for grabs, as eight remaining candidates will face no Democratic opposition in the Nov. 8 general election.

All registered voters are eligible to vote, even if they did not vote in last week’s Republican primary.

In the Pickens County Council District 3 runoff, a new face will take the position, as incumbent Randy Crenshaw was defeated in the June 14 primary. The vote will come down to Wes Hendricks and Alex Saitta.

Challenger Roy Costner seeks to unseat incumbent Neil Smith in the Pickens County Council District 4 race.

There will be a new county council member representing District 5 as well, as incumbent Jennifer Willis did not seek re-election. The final two vying for the seat in the June 28 runoff will be Chris Bowers and Jeff Willis.

In the State Senate District 2 contest, incumbent Sen. Larry Martin will try to retain his seat against Rex Rice.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and a photo ID is required to vote. A list of polling locations and sample ballots can be found at pickenselections.org.

 

Easley man dies after hit-and-run

GREENVILLE — An Easley man died last week from injuries sustained in a hit-and-run.

The Greenville County Coroner’s Office identified the deceased as Damian Taylor, 37, of Easley.

South Carolina Highway Patrol Corporal Bill Rhyne said the collision occurred at 6:20 a.m. on Monday, June 13, at mile marker 48 on Interstate 85.

Taylor was driving a 1982 Suzuki motorcycle southbound when another vehicle collided with it, Rhyne said.

Taylor was transported to Greenville Memorial Hospital after the collision.

He died of blunt-force trauma injuries the following day.

Rhyne said Taylor was not wearing a helmet.

The second vehicle involved in the collision, believed to be a white Toyota Camry or Honda Civic, left the scene, Rhyne said.

The vehicle was missing a right rear hubcap, and troopers believed it also had a broken right rear taillight.

Rhyne urged anyone with information about the collision to come forward. A local law firm, Iron Horse Motorcycle Lawyers, offered a reward for information leading to an arrest.

Later in the week, Rhyne updated the media about the investigation and said an arrest had been made.

On Friday, a vehicle matching the description of the second vehicle was seen in the area of the collision and stopped by troopers.

“Through the course of the investigation, it was determined this was the suspect vehicle and this was the driver at the time of the collision,” Rhyne said.

Anthony Shearn, 25, of Greenville, was charged with one count of leaving the scene of an accident with death and one count of improper lane change, Rhyne said.

He is also charged with having an open container, records show.

Shearn was booked into the Greenville County Detention Center and denied bond on the hit-and-run charge.

 

Woman who killed children pleads not guilty by reason of insanity

PICKENS — Although her defense attorney admitted to a jury that she fired the deadly shots, a Dacusville woman charged in the 2013 shooting deaths of her two youth children entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity during the opening day of her trial Monday.

Suzanna Brown Simpson was 35 when she shot and killed 7-year-old Carly and 5-year-old Sawyer and tried to kill her husband, Michael, on May 14, 2013. She was charged with two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

An investigation into a single-vehicle accident that injured Simpson led to the discovery of the victims on the morning of the shootings.

According to 911 calls released by the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office in the days following the shooting, a neighbor was the first to respond to the accident, which happened a short distance from the Simpsons’ Cherokee Trail home.

The neighbor told a dispatcher that the driver of a pickup truck had driven over some trees and run off the road into a ditch. He said the driver didn’t know where she was or who she was and had been knocked unconscious.

In a second call, the neighbor gave the first indication that there was more to the case than a simple accident, telling the dispatcher “something’s not right here.”

“The lady that wrecked is my neighbor, and I’ve never seen her this early in the morning,” he said. “Her husband’s truck and the other car is still in the yard. I can’t get her husband or kids to the door. She’s got two little kids, like 5 and 7.

“Something’s not right, and she can’t tell me because she don’t know. She’s talking away. She don’t know what’s going on, but we need somebody here to check this house.”

After medical officials and deputies arrived at the scene of the accident, deputies visited the Simpson home, finding the children shot dead in their beds and the father in serious condition with at least one gunshot wound to the head.

According to warrants, officers said Simpson told EMS personnel “OK, OK, I shot my whole family.”

The warrants also said Simpson was transported to Greenville Memorial Hospital, where she told an ER nurse, “I shot my kids, then my husband and tried to shoot myself several times, but couldn’t do it.”

The nurse, John Conway, testified Monday on the opening day of Simpson’s trail. He told jurors Simpson told him she shot her children because she “didn’t want them to live in this awful world.”

Conway also said Simpson told him she tried to kill herself, first with a gun, then by crashing her truck into a tree.

Public defender John Mauldin told the jury Simpson was suffering from bipolar disorder that was sparked by post-partum depression, as well as bouts of paranoia.

Solicitor Walt Wilkins, however, claims Simpson knew right from wrong at the time of the shootings and should be convicted on all charges. Wilkins said the state is not seeking the death penalty in the case.

Judge Brian Gibbons is presiding over the trial, which is expected to last through this week.